Drawing the Moon

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Art and science have always been intertwined. In this guest post the artist Jo Lane discusses her most recent artwork inspired by John Russell’s Moon drawing that hangs in the Museum.

John Russell's moon pastel, 1795

As a regular visitor to the History of Science Museum I have been inspired by the abundance of objects to view and research. I am most fascinated by the incredible Moon pastel drawing by John Russell that hangs in the stairwell. At each visit to the Museum I stand and stare at it, in awe of its beauty, its condition, its age, the enormity of the paper and the colours of the handmade pastels. I like to think about the optical technology that was available in the 1700s, such as the Dollond Telescope, that enabled Russell to copy what he saw into this epic drawing.

My piece, ‘emergency on earth’, is a drawn reproduction and interpretation of this beautiful five foot pastel. You can still faintly see the grid lines I used to copy the Moon in the photographs. My contemporary drawing is a different medium to Russell’s. Instead of pastel it is graphite on black paper, which produces a sheen when light is directed onto it. A little aluminium powder, phthalo blue pigment and chalk hint at some of the colourings in Russell’s original.

When Russell was creating his pastel the industrial revolution was just commencing. Now, a mere 224 years later and after the acceleration of industry and technology, human output of pollutants and greenhouse gas has grown dramatically. I have used an emergency warning beacon in front the drawing to bring attention to this – as if Earth’s emergency is now reflected on the Moon.

When creating my artwork I became aware of how respectfully we must treat our planet and everything on it, and the work being done towards this. ‘emergency on earth…’ is an ode to those scientists and artists past, present and future.

By Jo Lane

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Jo previously had her artwork shown the Lumen Crypt Gallery in London, as part of Out of Darkness group exhibition.

The Search for Snoopy

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by Peter Ells

Apollo10: Charlie Brown and Snoopy modules

Snoopy (left) and Charlie Brown (right)

 On 18th May 1969, Apollo 10 was launched as a final rehearsal for Neil Armstrong’s historic moon landing, which was to take place in July. The crew were Commander Tom Stafford, lunar module pilot Gene Cernan, and command module pilot John Young. These astronauts had named their command module Charlie Brown and the lunar module Snoopy, after the famous cartoon characters. On day five of the mission, the astronauts achieved an orbit around the moon, coming to within 60 miles of the surface.

Apollo 10 Snoopy module

The crew compartment of Snoopy, photographed from Charlie Brown.

While Young remained in Charlie Brown, Stafford and Cernan entered Apollo 10 Snoopy moduleSnoopy and descended to within 9 miles of the lunar surface. They jettisoned the (spider-legged) descent stage, which crashed into the moon, and returned to dock with Charlie Brown, as shown in the second photo. Stafford and Cernan then re-joined Young in Charlie Brown.

The crew compartment of Snoopy (we’ll just call it ‘Snoopy’ from now on) had completed its task in the mission. Snoopy was detached from Charlie Brown, and it was remotely commanded to fire its main engine so as to burn all of its fuel. This resulted in Snoopy being launched into orbit around the sun. All three astronauts returned safely to earth in Charlie Brown.

Since 2011 a group of amateur astronomers, led by the Faulkes robotically-controlled Telescope Project, with assistance from NASA and some professionals, have been attempting to find Snoopy. This is a daunting project: “To say it’s like finding a needle in a haystack is doing a disservice to the haystacks,” said project director Paul Roche. Snoopy is only about four metres in diameter.

Over the years there have been several tentative sightings, the most recent being in May 2019, but none has been confirmed so far. The work has not been wasted because many new asteroids (rocks orbiting the sun) and comets have been discovered.

If Snoopy were to be found it would be feasible – though very expensive – to bring it back to earth using current technology. Several space entrepreneurs have the ability, finance, and adventurous disposition to carry out such a recovery.

The conical command module Charlie Brown is on permanent display in the Science Museum in London. (The cylindrical service module was jettisoned and burned up in the earth’s atmosphere during preparations for Charlie Brown’s landing back on earth). It would be wonderful to think that Peanuts might one day be reunited with Charlie Brown – at least for a brief inter-museum loan!

My favourite object: an Islamic astrolabe

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Rana Ibrahim, the Museum’s Collections Project Officer (Multaka-Oxford), tells us about her favourite object, an astrolabe engraved with a Quranic verse.

I am the Collections Project Officer on the Esmée Fairbairn-funded Multaka-Oxford project, an inclusive volunteering project which works with local people and partners at the History of Science Museum and the Pitt Rivers Museum. As Collections Officer I work mostly with the Islamic scientific instruments at the History of Science Museum. This includes astrolabes and Qibla indicators. I am working to make them more accessible and interesting to all our visitors.

Astrolabe with green prayer beads and red cloth handle.

One of my favourite objects at the Museum is this astrolabe by Khalil Muhammad ibn Hasan `Ali. It was made in about 1700. One of the reasons I admire it is because of the Quranic inscription of ‘Ayat Al- Kursi’ (The Throne Verse) engraved on the brass, which is a very significant verse in the Quran. It is one of the verses that all Muslims memorise by heart and read after each prayer to strengthen their connection to Allah. I also love the prayer beads attached to the astrolabe, which makes me think that the person who used it could have been an Imam of a mosque. Prayer beads (misbaha) are very important to Muslims as they help focus and calm the mind before and after prayer.

What is an astrolabe? They are astronomical tools invented by the ancient Greeks and further developed in the Islamic world from the 700s onwards. It is said that they have over 100 uses. One of the many uses for Muslims was to find the five prayer times in a day and also to calculate the date for Islamic months such as Ramadan.

In 2019, Ramadan started on 6 May and it will end on today (Tuesday 4 June). This Ramadan I would like to wish you all a very pleasant month and a happy and healthy year of 1440 Hijri. Remember, it’s a magical month for everyone on earth and may all your wishes come true in time, Inshallah. Make some wishes and Eid Mubarak!

Winning awards

Rana with the Museums + Heritage award.

In May the Multaka-Oxford Team won the Museums + Heritage Award for Volunteer Team of the Year! Talking about the Volunteer Team, Diane Lees (Chair of the 2019 judging panel) said “the genuine mutual benefit to both organisation and volunteer is clear to see … They have shared their experience, insight and expertise to collaborate and to reach new audiences, helping the museums to be more relevant and accessible to their communities.”

Not only did they win Volunteer Team of the Year, Multaka-Oxford was also Highly Commended for Partnership of the Year. The project has partners from across the city and beyond. Together our work is stronger – thank you Asylum Welcome, Refugee Resource, Syrian Sisters, Connection Support, Oxford City Council, Aspire Oxford and Sanctuary Hosting, and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation Collection Fund who have made the project possible.